Located in West Grove, PA, near the heart of the mushroom capital of the world, a startup technology company now approaching its fifth year in operation has taken root and started to grow. Not one focused on edible fungi, but on technology refurbishing and recycling.

Operating out of a newly renovated processing facility in West Grove, Sycamore International utilizes a highly customized system to efficiently process a wide array of used technology. Sycamore began specializing by servicing both K-12 and higher education institutions, and subsequently expanded to service the healthcare sector, legal sector, data centers and corporations in general.

What We Do

Our primary focus is to extend the usable life of secondary technology assets. Our trained processing technicians specialize in refurbishing used technology for reuse. Many assets that would otherwise be discarded can be used again with the proper refurb techniques. While recycling is essential for all technology assets eventually, the process consumes significant amounts of energy. Our refurbishment and redistribution/resale process is energy efficient and extends the useful life of assets for years to come.

By recycling domestically and selling refurbished technology internationally, we’re able to infuse capital back into our client’s budgets that would have once been a costly expense. We service clients across the eastern seaboard, operating from Florida to Maine. An expansion into the Midwest with a second processing facility last year outside of Chicago enabled us to operate efficiently in a greater swath of the country.

Let Us Do The Work

Making the time to move, organize, load and properly dispose of used electronics is often a challenging and time consuming process for anyone. Fortunately, that’s where Sycamore’s professional pickup crews help! Our teams can haul out technology from any location in our client’s organizations to minimize strain on their staff and resources. Just let our trained staff handle the physical labor of safely packing and loading the hardware for transport. We’ve done it thousands of times and are very familiar with packing all sorts of assets. In return this gives our clients more time to focus on what is important they really need to do.

Back at the processing plant, each piece of equipment is handled individually. Our secure process of thorough data destruction is applied to anything that stores data to the Department of Defense standards. All residual “e-waste” and completely obsolete hardware is properly disposed domestically in a R2, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 facility.

Here to Stay

We’ve experienced rapid yet controlled growth. While other recyclers and firms have collapsed amidst global drops in commodity prices, our sights remained clearly focused and we’re here to stay. We will continue to offer the highest level of quality service and take the extra steps to ensure not only complete satisfaction, but that our community may also improve and benefit from the efforts of our team.

Rapid technological advances and accessibility to the consumer and industrial markets have brought about a global connection once thought impossible. However, with the growing changes in various media, the way that media is consumed, and newer more efficient technical solutions, a growing surplus of electronic waste is at an all time high.

On average, the planet disposes of 50 million tons of “e-waste” each year, with the vast majority of this waste sitting in landfills or being incinerated. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of this e-waste becomes recycled.

Most electronic devices contain a wide variety of metals that can be recovered and reused. Substances such as fiberglass, tin, copper, and aluminum and even trace elements including silver and gold can all be found in unwanted devices. Other more dangerous materials such as nickel, lead, and mercury can pose huge health risks to humans and the environment if improperly disposed.

Through careful dismantling and extracting of these materials, precious natural resources are saved and the typical hazards of air and water pollution that come with improper disposal are avoided completely. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions produced by the manufacturing of new products become reduced. While an LCD monitor screen is significantly more energy efficient than a CRT, the amount of gases with high global warming potential produced in the manufacturing of LCD monitors often means that their lifetime greenhouse gas emissions are higher if created at a more frequent rate. Up to 500 lbs of carbon dioxide can be generated from the creation of a single brand new laptop. A figure that makes using a newer more “efficient” electronic device seem moot.

At Sycamore International, we properly recycle 50,000 – 90,000 lbs of e-waste a month. Everything from personal computers, Macs, Laptops, LCD and CRT monitors, server equipment, and everything in between. Anything that is not working or cannot be salvaged is recycled in a safe and responsible manner while an average of 4,000 – 9,000 functioning computers a month have their virtual lives extended by years. Sycamore International then sells their electronics that have been refurbished to various organizations and educational services so they can have their full potential mobilized.

Sycamore International realizes the numerous benefits that coincide with proper e-waste management and will stride great lengths to purchase your unwanted hardware for recycling and to give back to the community.

(Written by Scott Freehoff, 2015)

Sycamore is proud to support the good folks over at the Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County!

“Many thanks to Steve and Mary Figgatt of Sycamore International who donated nine laptops to families in our Healthy Start program. Thanks SO much! You have given families a key to a whole new world!” – MCHCCC